with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves
by tombombadillo
Summary: He squawks against her neck, now trying to get his legs around her rib cage. Clingy. Her own little monkey. "Baby, you're too big to do that. What did you do?"


**For my princess Merida. I hope this is okay, my dear. As part of the "all the stories you will leave" universe, but it's not really necessary to read that to understand this.**

* * *

Keane's scream is both indignant and immediately identifiable, and Kate, attempting to feed Ria turns her head to try and find her son in the commotion. The climbing frame is swarming with children. It's a brilliant summer day, and the twelfth precinct picnic is in full swing. The smell of barbecues drifts lazily in the air, and her stomach rumbles in anticipation. She gets so much hungrier now she's a mother, has an almost constant supply of snacks in her work desk, and she's looking forward to the promise of burgers, and BBQ chicken wings later. Her gaze darts through the crowd, picks out Ryan, the one, for the time being at least, who is in charge of keeping an eye on them. Sarah-Grace is standing, looking petulant, and Keane is sat on the floor, face scrunched up and screaming.

And once Keane starts screaming, not a lot will get him to stop. Ryan promptly scoops the little boy up in his arms, keeping him close to his chest, and holds his hand out for Sarah-Grace. The four year old stares at him petulantly, lips pursed and brow furrowed. Sarah-Grace did not have terrible twos, but she has decided that the fearsome fours are definitely more worth it.

The Ryan's have adapted the technique of just leaving her to her tantrums, and Ryan promptly makes a steady, but slow, walk towards the gate. It takes about ten seconds for Sarah-Grace to run after them, grabbing hold of her father's hand until they're only a few metres away, and then she runs for them. Castle grabs hold of her before she can crash into Kate's back.

"Easy going, kiddo. Remember what we said about being careful?"

Ryan stops behind them and Keane reaches out for his mother. "I think Sarah-Grace was being a little too bossy." Kate hastily passes over her daughter to Castle, who immediately starts cooing at her, pulling funny faces and making silly noises. It's not what he's supposed to be doing, but as long as she feeds in the next half an hour it shouldn't a problem. Keane is still wailing when she takes him from Ryan, wraps his arms tight, so tight around her neck, and she winces at the choking feeling, pulls him back slightly.

"It's okay, baby. What's happened?"

He squawks against her neck, now trying to get his legs around her rib cage. Clingy. Her own little monkey. "Baby, you're too big to do that. What did you do?"

But even if Keane wants to answer her questions there's no way she could even manage to decipher what it is he's trying to say. So she rocks him the best that she ca, whispers soothing words into his ear but he still carries on, eyes scrunched up so tight it's a wonder any of the tears can come out. It's making her stomach knot, completely baffled as to what is wrong with him, what could possibly make her son so upset that not even his mother can help?

"There was a bee!"

Sarah-Grace pipes up, leaning on Castle's knee and looking down at Ria who, thankfully, has decided to latch onto the bottle of formula Castle has been waving in front of her nose for the past five minutes. "What, sweetheart?" Kate asks, not entirely sure if she heard the girl right over her sons screams.

"Buzzzz!" Sarah-Grace insists, and then flaps her wings. "Busy Bee!"

A bee sting. Oh. "Ryan, can you-"

"I'll get some ice." He says, tugging on Sarah-Grace's hand. "Don't worry. SG, why don't you go find mommy, get you some food? You want a burger?"

Kate's attention is back on Keane, shifting his position so they're both more comfortable. "Keane, baby, where does it hurt? Can you show me where it hurts?"

His screams don't stop, but at least he opens his eyes, looks up at her and they're red-rimmed and full of un-shed tears, and then with one shaking hand he points at the nape of his neck, covered by his hairline. "Okay, baby, mommy's just going to take a look, okay?"

Just brushing his hair out of the way makes the screams escalate, but she can see the sting quite clearly, a little hooked barb that she easily brushes away with one swipe of her finger. Keane's breath hiccups slightly, looks slightly alarmed, but it's all she can do until Ryan returns with some ice. Ria is slowly falling into the same state as her twin brother, who, being slightly less fussy with being fed, is already down for his afternoon nap. Castle sings to her, low and melodic, until her eyes close and her body relaxes. Once the twins are asleep it appears nothing short of an explosion will wake them, which Kate is immensely thankful for. Keane she can deal with, but three screaming children? Even with Castle, that's still two arms short.

Thankfully Ryan returns with some ice, wrapped in soft cotton towel, and the dampness of it is soothing even to her during the summer heat. "This is gonna be cold, but it'll help, just sit still, okay baby?"

He makes some kind of recognition, but she's still tentative about pressing it against his skin. She needn't have worried though. The moment the ice touches his skin he visibly relaxes his head slumping against her chest in relief. "Thank you, Ryan. You're a lifesaver."

"No need. You guys want something to eat? Jenny's over there now."

"Castle?"

"Cheeseburger, lots of onions."

Ryan rolls his eyes. Of course. "Can I just have a plain burger with a tiny bit of ketchup? I'll split it with Keane."

"Sure. Drinks?"

"I think we're gonna make a trip to the ice cream van after." Castle grins, because he enjoys the ice cream van as much as his son does, and when she suggested it on the way here it was almost impossible to stop the five year old coming out again. "But thanks."

Keane's screams have subsided by the time Ryan and Sarah-Grace return with food. Sarah-Grace has a mouth full of a chicken drumstick, with another clenched in her fist, and Ryan, poor thing is trying to juggle four burgers and a large bottle of water. Jenny is following behind with Conor, who at thirteen months, is still getting the hang of his own two feet. Conor's birth, thankfully, was far less dramatic than that of Sarah Grace's, the story of which the young girl will tell anyone and everyone who will listen. Including those who have already heard it. Keane's hands immediately go for the burger which Ryan had intentionally offered to Kate, and the knot in her stomach eases slightly. If he's hungry he must be feeling better.

"Wait a minute, Keane." She says, trying to keep him safe on her lap, while simultaneously trying to keep the ice against his neck, and take the food from Ryan.

"It's okay, I got it."

She gives Castle a grateful smile as he takes the two burgers from their colleague and then grabs a spare piece of paper that Keane has scribbled over to use as a plate for his and Kate's burgers. Keane's half of the burger he splits into two and offers one to Keane. "I'll take him while you eat."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I want to have quality man time with my big boy."

Kate laughs. "You wanna go sit with Daddy?"

She's not surprised when Keane wriggles out of her grip and into the arms of his father. Despite the fact that she's the one with the gun, she's the one who catches the bad guys and puts them behind bars, there's something about the shelter of Castle's arms that provides some form of comfort. She knows it's nothing against her, not at all, Keane will most likely come to her when he's hurt himself, or when he wakes up in the middle of the night and just needs someone to hold him, sing to him, until he falls back to sleep. But Castle, he's big, and strong, and he gives off the sense that his whole body is a shield, and nothing whatsoever could possibly harm you, as long as he has his arms around you. Kate's often needed that. On nights when she was unsure of herself, of them, of her ability to be a mother, when the job got too much, to just be able to lie there in the sanctity of his arms, it's a relief.

And if anyone can fight off bee stings, then it's Richard Castle.

* * *

"Can I have an ice cream, Uncle Rick?" Sarah-Grace is hanging off his arm, swinging slightly, even though Ryan and Jenny are very strict with what she can and cannot do. But SG knows that Castle will let her get away with it, and she makes the most of the freedom.

"Only if you say the password."

"Please?"

"It was actually peas, but it was close enough. What would you like?"

Sarah-Grace grins. "Knickerbocker glory."

"A knickerbocker glory, two magnums, and a sonic the hedgehog, if you would, kind sir." He offers the ice cream vendor his most charming smile, but the man doesn't return it. Well, he's not surprised, really. Today must be so busy, the poor guy is rushed off his feet. Castle hands him the money, tells him to keep the change, and then hands two of the ice creams to Sarah Grace. It's a five minutes walk to where Kate, Keane and the twins are waiting for them, complete with a bag of bread. They've been promising Keane he could go and feed the ducks for the past week, but the weather, and work has always seemed to get in the way. Not right now though, the sun is still blazing, and Kate has the next week off. Not even on call.

"I gotta eat the ice cream, Uncle Rick." SG insists, jumping up and down slightly. "It's gonna melt."

"It'll wait until we get to the others." He can see them now. Kate is crouched down, pointing at something across the lake, with Keane leaning against her knee. He's still being clingy with them both, still traumatised from the bee even though the pain had faded an hour or so ago. "Be patient."

"But-!"

"Sarah-Grace, do you want me to tell your mother that you weren't behaving?"

She hesitates, only for a moment. "Can I run?"

"Give me one of those ice creams, you can go and give Keane his." He swaps one of the magnums for the sonic ice cream, and then SG is running towards them, dodging through the crowds of people. He takes his time, opens his own ice cream, takes his time to people gaze. But the call of his family has always been too much and he soon makes his way towards them. They're all crowded around the fence, Keane and SG happily eating their ice creams. He hands Kate her ice cream, and she presses her mouth against his in welcome. She tastes like sun cream and summer.

She still ignores the ice cream, instead wraps her arms around him and presses her head into his shirt. "He scared me."

"I know, I know. But he's okay. Just a bee sting."

"I just – I didn't know what was wrong. He could have been seriously ill."

"But he wasn't. Look at him, he's got ice cream all around his mouth and he's quacking. He's fine. I made more of a fuss with my knee."

She huffs, presses a light kiss to his throat and then pulls backwards. "I don't think you can compare a bee sting to your knee."

"You can when you're two years old."

Kate pulls the ice cream from its wrapper and bites down, the chocolate cracking underneath her teeth. The ice cream inside is slightly melted, and she dips her finger into it. Not fair if they all can't have some ice cream, and both Ria and Ira smack their lips around her finger happily. It's calm, and peaceful, and she's almost perfectly content, the panic from before not yet faded.

Of course, then it's disrupted again and Sarah-Grace is screaming because she dropped her ice cream.

* * *

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